Holding-strap for street-cars



(No Model.) 7

J. P. BARNES.

HOLDING STRAP FOR STREET CARS.

No. 560,185. Patented. May 19, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JERMAIN P. BARNES, OF ROCK STREAM, NEW YORK.

HOLDING-STRAP FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,185, dated May 19, 1896. Application filed August 6, 1894. $erial No. 519,588. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JERMAIN P. BARNES, of Rock Stream, in the county of Yates and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Holding-Straps for Street-Cars 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the drawings accompanying this application.

My improvement relates to that class in which the strap is drawn up in a spring-case to remove it from contact with the heads of passengers.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, and embraced in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the device attached to the rod or pole of a street-car. Fig. 2 is a similar View at right angles to Fig. l.

A indicates one of the poles or suspendingrods of a street-car, to which the straps are attached.

B is a circular case attached thereto and provided with a hand-strap 0, attached at one end to the shaft, the other end being provided with a hand-loop a, as usual. The case is provided with a coiled spring D, attached at one end to the case and at the other to the shaft. When not in use, the spring, by its uncoiling action, winds up the strap until a stop b on the latter strikes a shoulder c of the case. IVhen the strap is drawn down, the spring is wound up. The strap rides over a roller (Z to relieve the friction. The case B is of such length as to form two compartments 1 and 2, with a partition f between them. The shaft E is made of larger diameter at one end than the other, the strap winding on the enlarged part, and the spring resting around the smaller part. One side of the enlarged part of the shaft is squared or cut away, as shown at g, and the end of the strap is attached thereto by a rivet or otherwise, by which means the strap rolls up without making an enlargement or swell on one side, which it would do if the end were attached to the round part of the shaft.

The strap is located in one of the compart= ments of the case and the spring in the other. By this means a roller, which is ordinarily used in spring-cases of the kind, is avoided and the expense is lessened, besides which, the parts, being separated by a partition and closely confined, do not interfere, and the action is improved. I

The case is constructed with an eye or socket G, which projects above it and serves as the fastening to the pole. To enable it to be attached, it has a removable clamp G, secured by clamping-screws h h. This socket has the peculiarity of standing tangentially to the case, by which means the case stands forward or in advance to the extent of its diameter. This projection is toward the center of the car. Poles as now fixed in street-ears are well toward the sides of the car, owing to the form of the top of the car, which does not allow them to be attached nearer the center. The consequence is the straps hang over the heads of the sitting passengers and are liable to be struck in rising, especially when they hang down full length. They are also inconvenient for standing passengers to hold by.

By the construction above described the straps are thrown farther forward toward the center of the car, and when not in use the straps are drawn up out of the way.

Having described my invention, I do not claim in this application the spring-case and strap with stops, as shown in my pending application, Serial No. 514,825, filed June 16, 18%.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with the suspending-pole of a street-car, of the winding-case B, provided with the tangential upright half-socket G, adapted to embrace the pole, the clamp G for securing the socket in place, the spring D, and the hand-strap O, the case being ofiset and standing toward the center of the car, as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

R. F. Osooon, CHAS. A. WIDENER. 

